Child of the Hobbit
by CyborgSmeet
Summary: Thirty years after the ring has been destroyed, one of Merry's daughters has her own adventure. Unfortunately, her journey is unlike the fellowship's in that she is alone, and a lot less heroic. [Finished]
1. Default Chapter

A/N: This story takes place thirty years after Lord of the Rings.  
  
Disclaimer: I did not write Lord of the Rings. Tolkien did it.  
  
Elize put her book in her purse as she headed out. She had told her father where she was going, and he just sighed and shook his head, making a comment on how she was just like his cousin, Frodo.  
  
Frodo had been a very close friend of Sam, Pippin, and her father, Merry, when one day they had gone on an adventure to destroy an evil ring. After the adventure, Frodo did not go back to the shire but went to a faraway land, instead. She felt bad about this, because even though it helped her father and his friends to have someone around that was so similar to Frodo, all of them, especially Sam always said it was not quite the same.  
  
She felt as though Frodo almost abondoned Sam, although Sam never held it against Frodo that he could never see him again. She loved to hear their stories about their adventures, but wished she could meet Frodo, since they seemed like they would get along and enjoy the same activities. In fact, what she was doing right now was something she heard Frodo would do as well. She was going to the woods to read.  
  
She crawled under a thick area of bush and trees to get to her favorite spot in the woods. It was a section of woods that had few trees for about five yards, but around that area of clearing the trees were so thick that one could never hope to look in or out. Even a small hobbit such as herself had to crawl a little to get in. She always thought of it like a room in the middle of the woods just for her. And, in her opinion, a rather large one at that.  
  
After getting into the clearing, Elize sat down with her back to a tree and began to read. It was about people going on an adventure, oh how she wished she could go on one herself! Only, unlike Frodo, she knew she would always return to the shire as long as her father was there. She would never leave someone she cared about without returning if she could help it!  
  
Maybe some day she would go on an adventure.........maybe to find Frodo. Even if she did not agree with one thing he did, other than that he seemed like a great person. She was sure Sam would be delighted to know how Frodo was doing. Perhaps she could even convince him to return to the Shire!  
  
Even though the book was open and she was looking at it, she soon realized her mind was somewhere else today. She closed the book, it would not do any good to read it when she was not in a mood to. Sliding the book back into her purse, she began to reach up toward a nearby branch, when she heard a strange rustling coming from another part of the clearing. She paused, and after thinking it over, she walked toward the noise.  
  
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Aragorn mounted his horse and rode off towards the shire. What was with some people and their obsession with size? Why, whenever there is a creature smaller than a human, they will treat it like it is little more than a beast!  
  
Aragorn wondered about this when he thought about the fact that people were selling hobbits as slaves, and after all the hobbits did for them! Did they not realize that the only reason they had heard of the hobbits was because one saved the world? Would it even matter?  
  
Well, the best thing he could do right now was to warn the hobbits of the Shire. It would do no good to find and rescue the hobbit slaves if more were being captured at every moment.  
  
He thought about Merry's youngest daughter, Elize. She had alwas been one of Aragorn's favorite hobbits aside from the ones he had traveled with, since she seemed so different from most. Why, instead of joining the other tweenagers in making noise and causing ruckus, she always went out in the woods alone to read and climb trees.  
  
Out in the woods alone.  
  
Damnit! Thinking about this he spurred his horse on, after all, who better to take than the one who's always alone? To make things worse, she was always the curious sort, she loved to investigate anything that might be of interest, and if she saw a human she would most likely go over to find out why they were there. After that, it would simply be a matter of reaching over and grabbing her, and there is no way the young hobbit could fight off a man........ 


	2. Kidnapped

A/N: This story takes place thirty years after Lord of the Rings.  
  
Disclaimer: I did not write Lord of the Rings. Tolkien did it.  
  
Elize walked closer and closer to the odd shaking bush until she was less than half a foot away, when a large blade chopped through it, nearly hitting her! She jumped back, and slowly walked backwards as the blade chopped through the bush again and again, until a hole was cut in it big enough for a man to get through. She probably would be annoyed by the fact her room in the woods was ruined, if it wasn't for the fact she was fascinated, though she was a little frightened.  
  
It was then that a man walked through, she had seen men before, like Aragorn, and they seemed like pretty nice folk, so she stepped foreward. She realized that he probably didn't know she was there, and would have been horrified if he had hurt her.  
  
"Who are you?" She asked, expecting him to be a friend of Aragorn.  
  
He knelt down and opened his mouth as if to speak, when he reached out his arms and grabbed her. Startled, she screamed at the top of her lungs. It was quite surprising that such a noise could come from such a small body, but, unfortunately she was deep enough in the woods that the only hobbits who could hear her at all heard a noise so faint that they failed to recognize it as a scream.  
  
However, in her favor the man who held her had been startled by this noise and let go of her for a second. Not wanting to go past this frightning man to get to the large opening he had created, she ran toward her own enterance. Just as she got down to crawl through the passageway, she felt herself being lifted into the air with a large hand clasped tightly over her mouth. It had only taken the man a few quick strides to catch up to her again.  
  
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Merry heard a knock at his door, so, of course he answered it.  
  
"Aragorn! Haven't seen you in forever, come in!" Merry said upon seeing his old friend's face.  
  
Aragorn declines, "I have business to attend to, I have simply come to warn you that there are dangerous men in the area and not to let your children leave the house. I will be guarding the Shire, but I should not stay or rest."  
  
"Elize isn't home, she's in the woods!"  
  
"What?" was Aragon's worried response.  
  
"I can go find her," Merry said, stepping outside.  
  
"No," Aragorn responded, "If she is in danger what could you do? You putting yourself in danger will not do her any good. I will bring her back, I promise."  
  
Merry stepped back into the house as Aragorn mounted his horse and rode toward the woods. Merry went into the kitchen where he saw Pippin shoving his mouth full of food from the cupboard.  
  
  
  
"Could you stay here and watch the kids for me? Make sure none of them leave under any circumstance!" Merry requested.  
  
"All right," Pippin responded. 


	3. Auction

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings.  
  
Elize felt her body being jerked awake by a large, rough hand. She'd been so frightened, she must have fainted. She opened her eyes to find that she could not see, she could tell that she had not lost her sight, but was blindfolded, because little rays of light illuminated the small folds of her blindfold. She felt rope across her wrists, and when she tried to move her hands to push herself off of the ground she realized that they were tied. She tried to reach up to her blindfold to take it off, but she felt the rope around her wrists tug, and she realized that someone was trying to lead her like a horse. She pulled herself standing, and followed. She noticed that she was no longer outside, for she felt no wind and she was walking on wooden planks, not rocks and soil.  
  
"Who are you? Where are we?" Elize cried out.  
  
A deep voice responded, laughing, "Best not talk, or people won't want you. If people don't want you, we grind you up and sell you that way!"  
  
Elize gasped, but said nothing, fearing that what he said was true. The man had only been trying to scare her, but she did not understand that if this was done even these wicked men would be appalled.  
  
She heard another voice call out, "This hobbit may not be strong yet, but as a young, healthy hobbit she should be easy to train, and if you work her, she may get strong yet! Let's start the bid at ten coins!"  
  
"Fifteen!"  
  
"Twenty!"  
  
"Twenty five!"  
  
"I hear twenty five, anyone want to increase the bid? Sold for twenty five coins!"  
  
Upon hearing this, Elize cried. She felt like a piece of furniture, or a lamp. She was lead off stage, and the man who bought her came backstage, paid, took her and left. This man chose not to use the lead rope, but carried her, for he did not feel like taking his time. She was loaded into a wagon, and she felt her legs being tied. She took her blindfold off now, but she was surrounded by luggage, so it didn't do her much good.  
  
After a few minutes, they arrived at their destination. The man shoved her into a sack with his luggage, and she felt him lifting up the sack and moving around a bit before finally he put her down and opened the bag.  
  
"Here's a list of chores to do. Get started," said the man, handing her a piece of paper.  
  
Trying to sound brave, Elize said, "A-and if I don't?"  
  
From her it sounded like a beaten dog's whimper than an act of rebellion. The stuttering most definitely did not help.  
  
"Then I cut off your limbs, toss you outside, and get a new slave."  
  
Elize whimpered, and scurried off to do the first thing on the list. 


	4. Wretched Planning and Worse Execution

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings.  
  
Elize looked out the window. After being kidnapped, she had been auctioned off like she was nothing, most unfortunately to a bartender who nothing about the care of hobbits. All he knew was that they were wide. Knowing this, he assumed that they did not need to eat much, or they would not gain weight so easily, not realizing that they had to eat very much and that it was quite impressive that they managed to eat much more. So silently she sat, when the bartender was away, wasting away by the window.  
  
There was a reason she sat so diligently by the window, for she believed that someone she knew would come looking for her, see her in the window, and come rescue her. Only it had been a week now, and she neither saw one she knew nor one who looked through the window; it being a second story window it was out of where a person and definitely where hobbit would normally look.   
  
Her once happy life was truly miserable. She only had to do basic housework, but the bartender lived in a flat above his bar to which he always kept his door locked (more to keep the unruly customers out than the young hobbit in) and she was always being battered with a combination of noise and stench.  
  
That was when, to her great surprise, she saw a familiar figure in the distance: Aragorn. Finally she was to be saved from this wretched place! As the ranger drew near, however, she heard feet coming up the stairs and she was pulled away from the window by a friend of the bartenders, and she was tied and gagged. He had been sitting outside the bar, you see, and when he saw the ranger he warned the bartender who gave him permission (and a key) to go upstairs and keep the hobbit from being discovered.  
  
A few floorboards were pulled up, and she was shoved down beneath them, and they were replaced. She heard beneath her Aragorn and the bartender arguing as to whether or not Aragorn had any right to enter his flat. Elize tried to get to the ceiling tile, which she may be able to scoot out of the way, and she would fall through the ceiling to where Aragorn was and he could heal any wounds she had. She would go home. She would be free.  
  
She finally made it down to the ceiling tile when apparently Aragorn had won the argument, because now he was going up the stairs. She would now have to pull herself back up in order to get Aragorn's attention, most likely by making muffled gagging noises. However, from being half starved, exhausted, and bound, she could not pull herself up, so she came up with a new plan. She would wait until he went back down the stairs, then pull out a ceiling tile and drop down.   
  
This plan turned out to be impossible to execute, as she discovered when Aragorn walked down the stairs, for her hands were tied behind her back and she did not have enough room to flip over. Her next approach was to attempt kicking the tiles out of the way, which proved to be just as possible. She despaired as she heard Aragorn leave the bar.   
  
Soon after, the floorboards were pulled way and they noticed she had fallen through. They joked about it as they pulled her out, but she did not listen to the words. They untied her then exited and she went to the window, to see no sign of Aragorn. He had already completely left, and she realized, even if someone who would know she did not belong there came, they would never know she was there.  
  
She got one last desperate plan of escape, she would jump out the window! If she died, she still would no longer be a slave as she surely would forever be if she did not, and if she lived she could run away and escape. She pulled open the window and jumped out, and when she landed, she landed on her chest. She could not breath and the pain was great, and once again the thing she did not figure for had happened. She was alive, but in such a shape that she surely would not escape. She got up and staggered across the street, fortunately it was not a busy time, and got to a bakery that was directly across from the bar, which she entered and collapsed.  
  
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Aragorn left, though he knew the hobbit was most likely there, because he did not know what condition she would be in, and if there was a struggle she may be killed. He had decided that it would be easier to simply sneak in there tonight, find her, and leave with her, especially since she may not even be hidden if no one expected his return. When he would return that night he would not find a trace of her in the house, just a splash of hobbit blood beneath the window she once looked out. 


	5. What You Don't Know Can Hurt You

golden twilight: Wow, my very first reviewer for this fic!  
  
MuseCelestia: If all goes according to plan, the chapters will get longer as you may be able to see by this chapter. If you think I should make them even longer, just say so and I will try.  
  
Moonwalker: Thank you! I'm planning on updating this at least once a week. I already have a basic outline for this whole fic in my head, so it shouldn't take too long for updates.  
  
A/N: I would also like to thank 21stcherryboy, although he did not review and most likely is not reading this, he let me know that there were some spelling and grammatical errors in earlier chapters. Without him, this chapter would probably have more spelling and grammar mistakes.  
  
Disclaimer: I am not Tolkien, Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings, so therefore I did not write Lord of the Rings.  
  
Happily pulling the apron tightly around her, Elize continued shoving large amounts of bread into her mouth. When a skinny, bloody little hobbit comes into your store, you tend to panic, then try and help it. In most cases, anyway. This is exactly what happened when the woman running the bakery saw Elize. The woman let out a yelp then rushed to help Elize. She gave her bread and an apron to keep her warm, and wiped her wounds with another apron. Most of Elize's injuries were not very big, so it did not take much to stop the bleeding. It didn't matter that the apron keeping Elize warm was a human sized apron, as Elize was using it more as a blanket than an apron anyway.  
  
"What happened?" the woman asked.  
  
Elize gave a shortened version, told mostly with her mouth full of food as she was starving, and manners weren't the kind of thing she let get in the way of her and her food even when she wasn't starving.  
  
"I was walking through the woods in the Shire, when a man came out and captured me. He sold me to the bar next door. He barely fed me, and after a while I tried to escape, but couldn't, so I decided to jump out the window and run away. Never having fallen from that high before, I had not realized how much it would hurt, and the pain was enough that I could barely walk, much less outrun a man, so I came here."  
  
The woman responded, "Oh dear, I cannot keep you here. I do not know of the Shire, so I cannot take you there. I should take you far from here, though, or else that bartender will simply take you back. I shall take you to the market, and pay in advance for three days stay in a nearby inn. There are so many people in the market that I doubt if you look for three days you should have any trouble finding someone who has heard of the Shire. I cannot take you there just yet, for I must first close the shop and deal with any customers that come while I do so."  
  
This woman then piled five loaves of bread and a skin of water into the small hobbits arms.  
  
"You may want these, you'll have to wait in the alley so no friends of the bartender, or even the bartender himself, come by and take you back. If you run into any trouble in the alley I will most likely hear the struggle and let you in. When I am ready I will put you in a large basket covered in a blanket and carry you to an inn. The rest I have already said."  
  
"What if someone from the Shire comes?"  
  
"Wouldn't they be about the same size as you?  
  
Elize answered, not thinking about Aragorn since he didn't visit that often, "Yes."  
  
The woman smiled, saying, "I think I'd be able to figure out who they are."  
  
Elize smiled back and responded, "I guess you're right."  
  
The woman walked Elize to the alley door and opened it for her. Elize stepped out, sat down, and continued devouring her food before the door even had a chance to shut behind her. After a short amount of time Elize heard someone in the store and talk to the baker. She began to doze, and was sound asleep before she heard the first man leave and a second, more familiar voice enter. She didn't hear the kind but unknowing woman send the man who was once a ranger away.  
  
Elize would not feel the darkness of sleep for long, because soon the woman came out and woke her. The plan would soon go into motion. Elize was so small the woman did not have any trouble finding a basket with more than enough room for her. The woman walked, swiftly and quietly, slipping into the night avoiding being stopped by a certain bartender. When she arrived at an inn called the Prancing Pony, she paid for three nights for Elize as well as giving Elize some coins for food and drink. After the woman left, Elize went to her room for tonight. Tomorrow she would begin her search.  
  
Elize found that the room was quite comfortable, with plenty of room and a gigantic bed. When she thought about it, she realized that many people here might not think this room was large as she had yet to see a single hobbit in this new land she had been taken to.  
  
Soon she was dreaming of finding a hidden road that would lead her home, where there would be a giant meal for her.  
  
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Aragorn tried tracing through the events of the night trying to figure out what had happened to Elize. Before he had been so sure he knew her whereabouts, and he was still sure she was there at the time he had decided she was there, but unfortunately, she had done her own move to escape that would only delay her return home. He suspected she had escaped the second he saw hobbit blood in front of the bar, but he inspected the building anyway. Sure enough, there was no sign that the hobbit was still there.  
  
He looked at the hobbit blood again, and noticed that it lead in a trail toward the bakery. The bakery was still open, and when he looked at it he noticed a certain bartender leaving it, looking frustrated. This was a good sign, as it showed that he, too, was most likely failing in his search for Elize.  
  
Aragorn doubted that she was still in the bakery at first, or else the bartender would not have left empty-handed, but then reasoned that she may still be, for as a ranger Aragorn had trained his senses much more than a bartender would. Careful to not be seen by the bartender, as it may cause a fight that would delay the search, Aragorn was careful to avoid being seen by the bartender as he entered the bakery.  
  
When he entered, he saw a middle aged woman and asked her if she had seen a hobbit girl come into the store.  
  
"Why, as a matter of fact I did." She responded, "I even gave her something to eat and helped her with her injuries. Apparently, she came from a place called the Shire…but I had never heard of it so I could not help her further. She left in search of it soon before another man came, you most likely saw him leave."  
  
Aragorn looked around, there was a faint trail of hobbit blood leading to a small stool, where it stopped. The area around the stool was surrounded by bread crumbs, but he saw no sign that Elize was still there.  
  
"Do you know what direction she headed in?"  
  
"No, I'm afraid I don't. I wish I could have helped you more!"  
  
"It's alright."  
  
Aragorn left, hoping for some clue as to the direction Elize went. If only he had known that as of yet she was just in the alley behind the store he had exited. 


	6. Close Your Ears

Disclaimer: I am not Tolkien, Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings, so therefore I did not write Lord of the Rings.  
  
After breakfast, Elize excitedly ran out of the inn. She looked at the road, and seeing all the people made her feel sure she would be home before long. She ran up to a man.  
  
"Sir, have you by any chance ever heard of the Shire?"  
  
The man ignored her and walked on. Annoyed she turned to another man.  
  
"Sir? Sir!"  
  
Once again she was ignored, so she decided to try her luck with a woman.  
  
"Excuse me, ma'am, but…"  
  
Once again, she was ignored.  
  
Frustrated, Elize yelled at the top of her lungs, "Listen to me!"  
  
This time people seemed to recognize that she was there, but having them simply mutter about the annoying little hobbit was not the reaction she wanted. Elize walked up to a woman selling fish.  
  
"Have you ever heard of the Shire?"  
  
The woman continued talking with a customer, ignoring Elize.  
  
Elize growled, "Why is everyone so rude around here?"  
  
The saleswoman finished her transation with her customer and turned to Elize. "When I first saw you, you were an eye sore, which really isn't unusual around these parts, but then when you yelled you became an ear sore. Then, when you spoke to me, you presented yourself as an nose sore. Personally, I'm afraid if you become any more kinds of sores you may just kill of one of my customers. I seriously doubt you are a customer yourself, or you would not look like a half-starved, dying hobbit."  
  
This, of course, upset and angered Elize, who would not usually look so bad. She had not had many good meals or baths as of late, due to her situation, which she would be out of if only someone would take the time to help her! Why, if she had a way to return home, she would be able to fatten herself up again and bathe, and she'd be considered almost pretty.  
  
Well, first things first, Elize went to another shop within the fish seller's line of view, and bought some jerky, just to prove that she could have been a paying customer to the rude woman. She ate her jerky while glaring at the woman, until she realized that she had no clue where she was going. She knew by now that most people would ignore her, and it was no use wandering further away from the inn.  
  
She probably should have asked the man she bought the jerky from for directions, but more likely than not he would not know the way. Besides, Elize was beginning to get thirsty, as she had not brought a water skin, and she saw a small creek a little ways off the road. She walked over to it, crouched down, and got a drink of the bitter water.  
  
She suspected that this water was far from pure. She looked up to see a strange creature crouched in much the same position that she was. They were similar in height, but this creature was much fairer than Elize on even her best day. Of course, that was not uncommon, it simply implied at least a small amount of beauty. The oddest thing about the creature that faced Elize was the fact that it had black wings sprouting from its back.  
  
Suddenly the creature got up and ran off, and Elize chased after her. Elize had no trouble crossing the creek, as it was so shallow that it only went a quarter of the way up the hobbit's leg. Elize chased her until she noticed that she was surrounded by trees.  
  
Elize thought this was odd, as she had not noticed a forest before. She panicked and spun around, yelling "Fairy! Fay! Where have we gone?"  
  
Hearing a giggle behind her, Elize spun around to see the fairy standing there.  
  
The fairy responded, "Where we have gone is of no importance, as I can return you just as quickly. Although I would beware of the spiders around here, as their bite can be quite poisonous."  
  
Nervously, Elize began to inspect the ground for spiders.  
  
"You need not look down for them, they are quite large, larger than you in fact. But that does not matter, what does matter is where you will go."  
  
"Can I go to the Shire?"  
  
The fairy smiled, "Yes, but first you must do an errand for me, but do not worry, it is simply to ensure that you will not be taken again after I return you."  
  
"What is this errand?"  
  
"The man who took you from the Shire must be slain. Do not worry about how you will get the tools to do this, I will provide you with anything you need."  
  
Elize looked shocked and responded, "Why do you tell me to not worry? Why would I kill a man? I would never do such a thing, after all, once I return home I can forget about this whole ordeal and move on. If I kill a man, no matter how wretched, I fear I may never be able to move on."  
  
"Oh, foul greedy beast! You only think of your own future! You may very well never be taken again, but what of the other hobbits he will steal from the Shire in the future? You are ensuring that there will be more abductions if you do not do this."  
  
"It was your idea, can you not be the one to perform the deed?" Elize countered.  
  
"I could not do such a thing, not for lack of will, but lack of strength.  
  
Sounding skeptical, Elize said, "So you go to a half-starved hobbit for help?"  
  
"I am sorry, but I fear that a man would not care enough about hobbits to even wish for them to receive aid. I could not go to one of them to get this done. But do not think you are less able to do this than I, for no hobbit bones snap like the bones of a fairy. The very reason we learn magic is that we would surely die without some form of protection. You doubt my words, here, squeeze my hand."  
  
Elize did so, but quickly released the fairy's hand as she felt the bones bend, nearly cracking, under the gentle force of the squeeze. When the creature pulled her hand back whimpering, Elize realized that she had little to fear from her.  
  
Elize thought of a plan that would not involve her killing a man, and quickly explained it. "I know a man who would care enough for hobbits to be willing and able to aid you. His name is Aragorn." ______________________________________________________________________  
  
Aragorn concluded, after asking around, that Elize had gone to the market place. He was even able to trace her steps up to a creek, where it became quite simple, as the moist dirt had deep hobbit tracks in it. He saw that the tracks continued past the creek, but since they stopped a couple feet away in the middle of a particularly moist patch of dirt, this only added to the mystery of what happened to her.  
  
He noticed that her footprints were joined by another set of prints that were similar in size, although thinner. This other set of footprints showed that whoever they belonged to had been facing the creek, then turned and left, though there was no set of prints marking their arrival.  
  
At first, these clues seemed to promise progress in finding her, but by the time night fell, no new clues were found, nor the morning after. It seemed as though Merry's daughter had disappeared into thin air. If by the following night no more clues could be found, Aragorn would have to return to the Shire. He could not risk more hobbits being taken. 


	7. The Swords

Cabbywolf: I'm glad that you liked my story! She probably won't find Frodo, but maybe some day I will write a sequel that she can find Frodo in..  
  
A/N: I would like to thank Muse Celestia for beta reading this for me.  
  
Disclaimer: I am not Tolkien, Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings, so therefore I did not write Lord of the Rings.  
  
"This man, Aragorn, may be willing and able to do this task," the fairy said, "but we fay are quite afraid of men."  
  
Elize opened her mouth as if she planned to spout out all the reasons why the fairy should trust Aragorn, but the fairy quickly stopped her before she even had a chance to make a sound.  
  
"'Tis not entirely me who is frightened, but all fairies. The leaders of the fairies have made a ruling that no fay is ever to even be so much as seen by a man, much less team up with one."  
  
"But the hobbits are also stronger than you, why can you speak to us?"  
  
"It is the ruling of the Contial, not mine."  
  
"Contial?" Elize asked.  
  
The fairy responded, "That is the name of our leaders, it is a word in our language."  
  
"If the fay have their own language, then why do you speak Westron?"  
  
The fairy smiled a smile that was mysteriously tainted with evil, "Oh, just something I needed to learn for my job, that's all. Oh, look how far from our original conversation we have wandered! So, will you kill the kidnapper of hobbits?"  
  
"No! I would never kill! Not even the most wretched man or beast!"  
  
"Do you know any men or hobbits that have gone on an adventure?" asked the Fairy.  
  
"Yes," Elize answered, "Aragorn and Dad and Sam and Pippin…"  
  
"And I'm sure every one of them has killed, now, do they seem evil because of this?" the Fairy asked  
  
"No…" Elize hesitantly said.  
  
"And neither will you. Oh, and just think, if this wicked man had his way, he would probably take your family and sell them off, and your family may not be as lucky as you. You ended up with an unusually gentle man, for the kind of man who would buy a slave, just imagine if they had one much crueler. They surely would not survive, for if you had not escaped you may have starved, and even if you had waited a day the weakness you would have gained would have been enough to kill you. Just imagine what they may go through because if you."  
  
Unfortunately, Elize had quite a vivid imagination and had no trouble seeing what horrible things would happen to her parents and siblings, and seeing how it would be her fault.  
  
"Okay," said Elize after a minute of thinking, "I will do it."  
  
"Very well," said the fairy, "turn around."  
  
When Elize turned around she saw a cavern wall, and throughout the cavern she saw various weapons that seemed to come from different cultures. Elize was confused, for she knew that forest had been here before.  
  
"Please," said the fairy, "pick a weapon quickly, before the trolls return."  
  
"Trolls!" Elize yelled frightened.  
  
"Do not yell or they will know of our presence! Simply grab a weapon and be done with it, foolish hobbit!" said the fairy, obviously becoming frustrated with the hobbit.  
  
Elize scanned the chamber, and, seeing as the direction she had been facing before was now solid rock, she was sure that the fay had transported her, somehow, in an instant. She saw what looked to her to be a sword, though it had been originally meant as a knife, and picked it up. When she spun back towards the fairy, they were once again in a forest. It was not the same wood, or it was not the same area of it, for a beautiful clear spring ran not far from where she stood.  
  
"You must bathe and rest before you do the great deed, for I fear what may happen to you if you are not at your best."  
  
"Ok," said Elize, who began taking off her dress.  
  
When she did, she noticed the fairy looking at her with disgust.  
  
"Why are you looking at me like that? It's making me uncomfortable."  
  
"Oh, sorry," said the fairy, averting her eyes, "it's just horrible to see that a man could be so foolish as to let a hobbit get so thin without knowing that he was starving her."  
  
Elize climbed into the spring and began to scrub her skin clean, satisfied with the fairy's answer.  
  
_____________________________________________________  
  
Aragorn walked along the path to the Shire when he heard what sounded like wolf cries. He walked towards them, and as they seemed to be coming from the direction of the Shire, he realized the Shire was in more danger than he thought. He raced through the trees until he saw a pack of wargs circling some prey. Aragorn squinted to see what kind of prey they had found, and saw that it was Merry. He must have completely ignored Aragorn's warning and decided to find his daughter himself!  
  
Aragorn pulled his sword out of its sheath and sliced through the nearest warg. Then he stabbed the one next to it, causing the rest to back away from him, giving Merry a way through. Merry took this opportunity and ran to Aragorn.  
  
"Merry, Elize is nowhere near the Shire and these wargs won't be able to get her, and there's no way you will be able to find her. Run home, before you get hurt!"  
  
Merry nodded and ran off, and Aragorn continued battling the wargs. He could not risk one getting to the Shire as a hobbit would be unable to defend themselves. 


	8. Time to Run Away

A/N: I would like to thank Muse Celestia for beta reading this for me.  
  
Disclaimer: I am not Tolkien, Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings, so therefore I did not write Lord of the Rings.  
  
Elize gripped her sword tightly as she hid in the shadows watching the man she was to kill. Just as he turned and reached for the door, Elize jumped forward and stuck the blade out in front of her. She impaled the man. He fell, making strangled gasping noises, and his face showed pure shock. He was no doubt wondering how an armed hobbit got into his room, and how she obtained the courage and strength to kill a man. He did not wonder for long; his eyes glazed over and body slumped. He was dead.  
  
Blood trickled down the blade, it seemed to crawl towards her as it dripped onto the hilt. She began to realize that something was wrong when the blood slithered onto her hand and continue onto her arm. Elize screamed in agony as the blood pushed through her flesh, entering her veins. As the new blood coursed through her, she felt like it was mixing with who she was!   
  
She battled to keep her mind, and in the process both were destroyed, leaving naught but an empty shell.The fairy who caused this all to happen laughed. Elize stood, but not of her own will. It was now an outside force that controlled her body, she was nothing but a puppet.  
  
Terrified, Elize's eyes opened suddenly. Leaves rested beneath her and the fairy beside her, and she heard a faint trickling of a spring. A nightmare, it was nothing but a nightmare. She couldn't do this, she couldn't kill this man! She stood up to run, but felt a hand grasp her ankle. Elize could have probably easily pulled herself free of this grasp, but since it was not this fairy's fault that she had a nightmare she did not.  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"I-I cant do this," Elize stuttered, "I had a nightmare, but it was so real. Th-the blood, it trickled up my arm, forced it's way into me…Please! You can't make me do this! In the dream it turned me into a puppet and…"  
  
"Please, stop this foolishness! A dream is but a dream and nothing more, once awoken from your sleep you shall not return to it in waking life! A dream cannot be a warning, for it does not tell the truth," the fairy let go of Elize's ankle and stood up, "This task is quite important to protect the hobbits of the Shire, as I am sure that more are being taken as we speak. If you do not get past your fear, in ten years I doubt that there will be a free hobbit left. Will you forget your dream or the Shire?"  
  
"I'm sorry!" cried Elize before she ran into the woods.  
  
Tears ran down her face, touching her chin before falling down to the leaves. Eventually Elize fell down to the forest floor and curled into a tight ball.  
  
The fairy did not chase after Elize, but she looked around angrily and called out, "Ianna! Was this your doing? Come out, I know you're there!"  
  
Another fay, just as fair, but seeming to be lighter than the first, stepped out from shadows that did not seem near dark enough to hide her.  
  
"How very perceptive of you, Dakanor, and yes, that was my deed. I only showed her what was to be, if she listened to you."  
  
"What would have happened? I do not believe blood would have crawled into her veins!" responded Dakanor.  
  
"No, but the rest was true," Ianna said, smiling, as she stepped back and seemed to fade into the trees behind her.  
  
______________________________________________________________  
  
Eight wargs left, four circled him, but the other four bounded off towards the Shire. Aragorn stabbed and slashed the wargs that were close to him, but by the time those were killed, the other four were long gone. He ran after them, hoping that he could catch them before they found hobbits. 


	9. To The Shire

A/N: I would like to thank MuseCelestia for beta reading this and Princess Consuella Banana for helping me with canon.  
  
lotr-and-potc-rule-Really? When are you posting it?  
  
Princess Consuella Banana-Awww, you know you liked it! Oh, and thanks for helping me with the canon.  
  
Disclaimer: I am not Tolkien, Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings, so thereforeI did not write Lord of the Rings.  
  
Elize felt a soft hand upon her shoulder, and when she looked up she saw that it was a fairy. Not the one she knew, but a new one, nonetheless, she sat up and scrambled to get away.   
  
"Why are you frightened?" the soft voice rang out.  
  
"I'm not killing anybody, don't even try asking me. I won't!" cried the frightened hobbit.  
  
"I wouldn't ask you to. For a creature such as yourself, whose nature is so against murder, to ask you to do such a thing would cause you so much turmoil that your mind would be on the brink of collapse. That was what Dakanor…the other fay, wanted, so that she could push her mind within your own and control you, as she could not do so to a mind that was not severely weakened. I gave you the dream, so that you would escape and understand why the deed could not be done," Ianna explained in a calm, even voice.  
  
Elize asked, "Why…why do you care if she takes control of me?"  
  
"For a fay it is illegal by rule of the Contial to have contact with any creature who has not seen a fairy without their approval upon penalty of death. They have sent me and I shall receive a reward upon bringing them her head."  
  
"Oh…" Elize responded, as if she was hoping for some noble cause instead of the one she received, then a thought popped into her head, "Are you sure she understands the rule? She mentioned the Contial to me, and the rule, only she said she could not be seen by men! Oh, she must have misunderstood, can you not explain the rule and give her another chance?"  
  
"She understands, trust me. If she did not, she could not have evaded the fairies working for the Contial for so long, she would have trusted us and would not know to hide. Even if she had not know that she was breaking our law, is it not wrong anyway to try to trick a child into becoming a murderer so that you may enslave them?"  
  
"Oh, true…I guess you're right," said Elize, considering this, "Of course, I did not know how long she evaded you, but she did try to enslave me, and that I knew."  
  
"Though I would never ask for you to have a part in killing, have you an idea of how to kill this wicked fay? For she can sense my presence, though other creatures she must see to know where they are, so I cannot sneak up on her. She does not like to fight, but she can disappear and transport to anywhere she has ever been in the blink of an eye. Though I could follow her, it would be impossible to keep her in one place long enough to kill her…" Ianna said, strongly at first but slowly fading into a mumble.  
  
"A man named Aragorn could be used, for he is kind, caring and strong. As a man and a warrior, it would not go against his nature to kill an evil beast! Oh, wait…you said you could not make contact with one who has never seen one of your kind, but did you not say 'without their approval'? Could you not ask them for their approval, as this task is something they wished done?"  
  
"Yes, that is what we shall do."  
  
In an instant the world seemed to fade away, and in its place was a crystal hall that glittered and gleamed. At a table sat five fay, aged yet fair. When they spoke they spoke as one, for over time a mind connection between them had caused their thoughts to seep into the heads of the others, creating one creature, ancient and wise. They were the Contial.  
  
"What have you come for?" they asked, "Why have you brought that creature?"  
  
"Dakanor chose her as a victim, but failed. It is against her nature to kill, and we know that my power would most likely not be enough to defeat her, but there is a man who is a warrior. It would be in his nature to kill, and as a friend to this hobbit, he would want to stop any who wished to harm her. I have come to ask permission to use him in my plan, though he would most likely find out about our existence."  
  
"No!" the Contial yelled, "You shall not bring in a creature such as that, these hobbits are bad enough, but at least they do not kill! A beast brought in for his ability to kill would be quite deadly, for we do not know if he would kill us when he was done with her. Another plan must be made."  
  
"In the meantime, may I know the location of her home, so that she may return? Dakanor was offering to take her there, if she killed, so if we kept her where she wished to be, there would be nothing to bribe her with. I would sense if a fay came to her home, and be able to stop anything from happening. Would you tell me the location of her home?" Ianna requested.  
  
"Where did she come from?" asked the Contial.  
  
Elize responded, "The Shire!"  
  
One of the Contial opened a book that Elize had not noticed before. It was an ancient book, with a brown cover and wrinkled yellowed pages, and it was filled with maps. Maps of lands mentioned many times in tales, maps of places no man nor hobbit has ever heard of, a map of the Shire, and a map that showed how to get there from Bree. No one knows how the fay came by such maps, but many things about them are mysteries, for few even know they exist.  
  
Ianna knew how to get to Bree, for she had been there following Dakanor in the past. For a while, she and the Contial spoke about a route to the Shire that would allow them to avoid the eyes of all men. At first, Elize was trying to pay attention, but as the fay were speaking in their own tongue, she quickly got bored with it. Fortunately, the conversation did not take long, and, as fairies could appear anywhere they had been before, neither did the trip to Bree. In a blink of an eye, the beautiful crystal palace melted away to be replaced by the browns and grays of an alley in Bree.  
  
"I shall take you to the ferry to the Shire. I am afraid to go with you all the way, for I might be seen, but I am sure you could find your way home from there," whispered Ianna.  
  
"Yes, though I have never taken it, this is the first time I've left the Shire, it is not far from my home and I know where it is."  
  
"Do you have coins for the ferry?"  
  
Elize nodded, and they snuck forward, ducking and crawling through the shadows. Fortunately, it was not far to the ferry, and they had few instances where they were nearly caught.  
  
When they arrived at a river, Ianna pointed down it and said, "Follow the river that way until you reach the ferry."  
  
Elize ran in the direction Ianna pointed as quickly as she could.  
  
Once Elize was out of sight, Ianna glanced around saying, "Dakanor, come out. I know you're here!"  
  
Dakanor stepped out from behind a tree.  
  
"This plan is unusually flimsy for you, Dakanor. Were you going to follow me to the Shire, so that you may find more hobbits to go after?" inquired Ianna.  
  
Dakanor smiled, responding, "Why, of course not. I already know where the Shire is, but I had to keep track of Elize, in case the wargs failed, or succeeded too well."  
  
"Wargs?" Ianna cried, "What do you speak of?"  
  
"Oh, just some wargs I sent to destroy the Shire, after all, emotionally distraught hobbits are so much easier to manipulate. If the Shire is not destroyed, however, I would much rather know where a hobbit is that I know I can fool, and if no hobbits survive, I will have no one to manipulate. You best hurry, I can just see a wargs large fangs digging into Elize's belly right now!"  
  
Ianna spread her wings and took off into the air, and Dakanor, smiling, followed.  
  
_______________________________________________  
  
Excited to be so near to home, Elize ran off the ferry after paying, and ran down the road. Suddenly, after less than a mile, a warg jumped out from behind some trees. It turned towards her, growling and snapping, and a long line of spittle dripped down from its long, sharp fangs. She screamed and jumped back, and felt a strong arm lift her up as three more wargs walked out to join the first. Elize realized it was Aragorn holding her and closed her eyes as tightly as she could; she had no desire to see the battle. She did not even wish to hear the swinging of the sword as it cut into the warg's flesh, their howls of pain and growls of anger, or feel the movement of Aragorn shielding her body and keeping her from being injured. She wanted to be home, eating a good, plentiful meal or sleeping in a warm, soft bed.  
  
Eventually the noises and motion stopped, and all she heard was Aragorn's heavy breathing and all she felt was his chest rising and falling with each breath.  
  
"Are you all right?" she heard his deep voice ask.  
  
"Yes," she mumbled.  
  
As she felt him carrying her home, she fell asleep. 


	10. Savior

Disclaimer: I am not Tolkien, Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings, so therefore I did not write Lord of the Rings.  
  
A/N: I would like to thank MuseCelestia for beta reading this and Princess Consuella Banana for helping me with canon.  
  
Ianna and Dakanor landed in a tree near Elize's home just in time to see Aragorn carrying her into her hole.  
  
Seeing a strange smile on Dakanor's face, Ianna asked, "What? You already knew the location of the Shire, it is not as if I lead you anywhere!"  
  
"On the contrary, I did not know the location of Elize's home. The Shire is large, it would be easy to search and search but never find."  
  
"But you could have followed her as well, I only knew generally where she lived, just like you. You are growing foolish and illogical, Dakanor. I doubt you will survive much longer," Ianna said, then, seeing the body of a warg, she flew over to it and continued, "This is a warg? How did you bring it here?"  
  
"A creature that relies on deception, such as me, will often learn the tongues of those they may use. I learned the language of the wargs, and after great description of the large number of helpless morsels of such delicious flavor, they could not resist my offer to bring them to the Shire."  
  
Then, noticing that she was no longer hidden, Ianna disappeared. Dakanor glanced around, hoping someone had seen them. It would be ironic if Ianna were executed for the very crime she wished to punish Dakanor for. Knowing Ianna, she might perform the execution herself. Now that would be funny to watch! Much to Dakanor's disappointment, there were no witnesses.  
  
______________________________________________________  
  
When Elize awoke, the first thing she saw was Merry and her mother Estella's worried yet relieved faces watching her.  
  
"Are you all right?" Estella asked.  
  
"Yeah…except I'm hungry."  
  
Merry's face brightened a little bit as he said, "Well, that shouldn't be a problem! As soon as we saw that you had lost weight, Pippin offered to help out by making you a little something to eat!"  
  
Elize followed Merry to the kitchen and saw that Pippin had, indeed, made her something to eat. Although, little would not be a word that most people would use to describe that meal. There was a hot, steaming chicken and a beautiful green salad. There were grapes and some tea, and some hot soup too. Pippin had made some mushroom pie as well, and was now putting fresh baked cookies on the table. She then noticed Pippin's son washing berries to help his father, and his wife, Diamond, putting dishes on the table.  
  
Elize rushed over to the table, filled her plate, and quickly began eating. Before long, however, Elize felt strangely ill.  
  
"I-I don't really feel hungry anymore. May I go to my room?"  
  
"Of course," said Merry, worry quickly reappearing on his face, "Is anything the matter?"  
  
"No…I'm sure after a little rest I will be ready to eat," Elize said, before getting up and heading towards her room.  
  
When Elize entered her room, something seemed off. The shadows seemed dark and malicious somehow, and before long she realized that they were twisting and dancing into a familiar shape. Dakanor.  
  
"Why have you come?" asked Elize, "There is no reason for you to be here, I am in the Shire and you have nothing to offer me. Even if I were not in the Shire, I now know what you wish to do to me!"  
  
"What makes you think that you're in the Shire?" asked Dakanor as the walls seemed to change to trees so quickly that Elize almost wondered if she imagined the Shire in the first place, "And what makes you think that Ianna was telling the truth?"  
  
"Why did you take me away from home? You can't kidnap someone and ask them to trust you and kill for you!" said Elize as she began to sob, "I…I just want to go home. Why wont you take me home? Ev…even if I do this you won't take me home. Ianna said…"  
  
"Ianna is a wicked fay, giving you dreams where you see her as a hero, and me as a villain. She never took you to the Shire," Dakanor explained.  
  
"But…but what would she gain by doing that to me?" asked Elize.  
  
"Power. If she leaves you in a blissful dream, she can easily convince you to work for her. Though when sleeping you do not move, she can ask you for a favor and wake you up. Thinking you were teleported, you would not realize her deceit. Using her magic, she would keep you from feeling the bed of sticks you were on, making you feel as if though you had a good meal once you got far enough into the dream that it would be appropriate, keeping you from these pains that you didn't usually feel, so that you wouldn't suspect that you were still in the woods. I saw and recognized what she was doing, so I chased her away and woke you up, breaking her spells."  
  
"But I felt ill, and never ate. I wasn't full, and there was no spell," said Elize.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You lied! You said you saw her cast a spell to make me feel full, but I didn't feel full!" cried Elize.  
  
At that moment Ianna jumped out from the trees with a knife in her hand, then dove at Dakonor and both disappeared.  
  
Elize waited a minute, hoping Ianna would return. It would be horrible if, after all of this, she ended up just stranded in the woods. A few minutes later, Ianna returned. Her hands and forearms were drenched in Dakanor's blood. Ianna's pale green dress was splattered in it, the spots appearing brownish red where the color of her dress' dye and victim's blood had mixed.  
  
"I'm sorry I was a bit late stopping Dakanor from taking you, I guess my attention lapsed and I…"  
  
"You killed her…" whispered Elize.  
  
"Well, yes. But…you knew I was going to do that."  
  
It was true, Elize did know, yet it was horrible for her. She thought about the fact that just five minutes ago, Dakanor was alive, talking to her. Though she did hate Dakanor, Elize had never experienced something like this before. To know a person, hear them, see them and then one minute later have them cease to be. To have all that was left of them be a mangled corpse, empty and lifeless. She was glad she did not have to see the body, since seeing the blood was too much for her. Elize felt a wave of illness and disgust come over her, and soon she began to vomit.  
  
Realizing the cause, Ianna said, "Poor thing, it is a good thing you didn't kill that man. It really isn't in your nature to kill, if you react so strongly from simply knowing a murder took place."  
  
Elize blinked, and when she opened her eyes, she was in her room once more, with Ianna standing at the foot of her bed. Elize closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. She felt small, delicate arms wrap around her and a sticky wetness soak into her clothes. She'd have to wash them later when no one was around, or else she'd have some questions to answer and mistrust from other hobbits to deal with. Elize didn't know whether she wanted to hug Ianna back, thankful that she had brought her home, or push her away, disgusted that this bloody murderess was touching her. She decided to do neither, remembering how delicate these fay were. Soon she felt those arms disappear, and when she opened her eyes, Ianna was gone.  
  
The End 


End file.
